Garona Halforcen
Garona Halforcen is a half-orc half-draenei, though others believe she is half-human, including herself.Secrets She is an assassin and a spymaster. Formerly she was an emissary of the Horde during the first invasion of Azeroth, she was the reluctant murderer of King Llane Wrynn. Biography Rise to power Having travelled throughout Draenor, Garona was well-versed in the culture of the orcs, making her an invaluable asset to the Shadow Council. She was inducted into the warlock-controlled Stormreaver clan. She quickly became the chief interpreter of the Shadow Council and Gul'dan's personal spy and assassin. However, Garona belonged to no clan, and had no clan allegiance. Due to her mixed blood, she was eternally an outcast and had to rely upon her wits to keep her alive in the harsh world. Upon arriving in Azeroth, Garona's experience lent a great deal to her insight with their newest foe — the humans. Emissary to Medivh Originally, she was a member of one of the first raiding parties into Azeroth, and also one of the few to confront the Guardian Medivh. While her party was wiped out, she was spared and sent back to relay a message to the warlock Gul'dan. After a period of time, she returned and met with the Magus on many occasions. Eventually, she was granted the title of Emissary and sent to Karazhan. It was there that she met Khadgar, Medivh's apprentice (and observer from Dalaran). Khadgar was, at first, furious at her presence, but the Magus demanded Khadgar treat her with respect. A trust was formed between the two when a bizarre demon appeared in the library of the great tower, and both had to utilize their skills together to defeat it. Garona and Khadgar continually criticized each other's race while defending their own. Eventually, Garona mentioned to Khadgar that the orcs had been arriving on Azeroth via a gateway known as the Dark Portal. Garona also began to respect Magus Medivh a great deal, and because of that respect, she started to debate her true loyalties. Stating that the "Old Man" had told her everything she wanted to know, despite knowing full well that she was a spy, she felt that she could never break that trust. She even made the comment that the bond of trust made her feel more 'human', and that she felt Medivh had a grand dream to bring something better to this world. Battle with Medivh Due to Medivh's bizarre behavior, Khadgar and Garona felt it necessary to investigate and uncover any connection between the sudden arrival of the orcs and Medivh's behavior. Using a spell to call forth a vision of the past, Khadgar and Garona discovered that Medivh was, in fact, the man who had brought the orcs into Azeroth, thus uncovering his plans of murder and deceit. This shook Garona to the core, and while at first she thought it to be a misfire of the spell, she eventually realized that Medivh was indeed the one who had opened the gateway for the orcs. After a short battle with Medivh, where Khadgar used his powers to summon a vision of Aegwynn that distracted the Magus, the two escaped and made their way to the (former) Kingdom of Azeroth. Despite a small interruption in their journey, they eventually met up with Lord Anduin Lothar. They told their story to Lothar and King Llane Wrynn of Azeroth, but Llane could not believe it was true. Despite Llane's skepticism, it was Lothar who realized that the Magus had truly gone insane, and at his suggestion, a small raiding party was gathered to confront Medivh in Karazhan. Later that very evening, Garona donned the colors of Azeroth at Lothar's request and joined the party as they set out via gryphons to the tower. After searching about the tower, they soon came across a hidden passageway downward, but leading into a mirror image of the tower itself, where Medivh's second shadow Sargeras dwelled. It was also at this time that both Garona and Khadgar witnessed something that would forever change the half-orc. Karazhan presented Garona with a vision of her future, where she was forced to watch in horror as "future-Garona" murdered King Llane during the siege against Old Stormwind City. For a while, Garona was terrified of what she knew would eventually come to pass. Llane was one of the few people in her life who had treated her with kindness and she did not want to kill him. Khadgar finally snapped her out of her state of shock and forced her to focus on the more important matter at hand. He told her that if the vision was true, then it meant they would both get out of Karazhan alive (since Khadgar had previously seen a vision of his own future as well), and that if it was false then she could die taking comfort in the knowledge that she wasn't destined to betray King Llane. Eventually, they found Medivh, who unleashed all the powers bestowed upon him by his mother and the demon lord Sargeras. Garona, now boiling with anger at Medivh's betrayal — and perhaps hoping to die rather than live out the vision she had seen — attacked the Magus head on, only to be struck down by a powerful spell. Medivh expressed disappointment in Garona, telling her that he had hoped she of all people would understand what he was going through and not oppose him. Feeling little remorse for the half-orc, he then touched her head and cast a second spell, filling her mind with the doubts and divisions that he himself had carried. She fell to the floor, incapacitated. Moments later, after much conflict, Medivh was finally slain by Khadgar and Lothar (at that moment Gul'dan was still deep within the Guardian's thoughts causing him to go into coma), but Garona was nowhere to be found... Llane's assassination .]] Soon after, Garona became a trusted confidant to King Llane, but because of Medivh's mind games, she was unable to form a true allegiance. She reported to King Llane the inner workings of the Horde and how he could use it to his advantage. After her "release" by orc forces during a raid on Northshire Abbey, she was ordered (presumably by the Shadow Council) to kill King Llane.The Temple of the Damned Realizing that her vision had become a reality, she reluctantly carried out this task, and with a deep sadness, murdered King Llane, cutting his heart out. At the time, she was pregnant with her son, Med'an. Gul'dan was in coma so Orgrim Doomhammer used this situation to his advantage, killing the corrupt Blackhand and seizing the mantle of Warchief. His spies found Garona and tortured her, almost to death, until she finally revealed the secret location of the Shadow Council. The Council was destroyed, and most warlocks were slain. Spies continued searching for Garona after the Second War.Flashback Garona's return Garona continued watching over her son. By the time of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, her son was attacked by a Twilight's Hammer clan party formed by an ogre, an orc, a tauren, a Darkspear troll, and a Forsaken. As they were beating her son, she suddenly appeared and killed the entire party however, later, she and her son were captured by more Twilight's Hammer members. She was taken to Ahn'Qiraj but her son was released.http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/misc/wccomic/issue-16-sneakpeek.html Garona face.jpg|Garona as she appears in the comic. File:Garona comic.jpg|Garona as she appears in the comic. File:WoW15CoverArtwork.jpg|Issue 15 - Conflicting Loyalties cover. File:WoW18CoverArtwork.jpg|Garona fighting Varian Wrynn. In World of Warcraft Garona is seen during Yogg-Saron's vision The Assassination of King Llane. Parentage Garona's "non-orcish" heritage was very much disputed, even by herself. Some believe her to be part human (i.e. half-human) , including herself. Others believe that the human part was actually a near-human race from Draenor, and not the same race of humans from Azeroth. Some believed she was related to Azeroth humans (although that would seem impossible). Others have suggested she is part draenei (i.e half-draenei) which has been confirmed, although researchers such as Brann Bronzebeard have denied it (based on her appearance, draenei appearance, and their limited knowledge of other half-draenei in the world). Half-human For some unxeplained reason Garona believes (or believed in the past) that she had half-orc and half-human heritage, as she claimed in the Warcraft I manual and a few references in The Last Guardian. In the manual Garona specifically states she is "...of both Orc and Human lineage". In The Last Guardian she states that she has human parts, and that she is both human and orc, and neither as she is something inbetween. Even Medivh, Khadgar, Brann Bronzebeard, many orcs, and others thought that she was half-orc and half-human. Humans tended to focus on her orc parts, and orcs focused on her human parts. To orcs she had human hands, too pale, too weak, and too ugly. However, as Brann pointed out, due to her age, it would seem impossible for a human and orc to have produced her since she was already a young woman at the time. Garona has made some statements that seem to imply that if she has human heritage, she was born from a different group of humans than those discovered on Azeroth. Her knowledge of Draenor "humans" gave her insight into those on Azeroth. Also according to Garona she hadn't felt her humanity in a long, long time, it was Medivh who allowed her to embrace her humanity. While its not specifically explained, the Warcraft I manual implies that she was born from the union of the first orcish scouts with humans they took as slaves during their initial raid approximately 15 years before the First War (making her age during the start of the First War around age 15). Timeline retconning issues later seemed to make that impossible, as Chris Metzen later removed 14 years from the timeline leaving only a year between the first arrival of the scouts and the war. This would make it impossible for Garona to have been created by any Azeroth human and orc union — from the facts as we understand them. Instead, it was more likely that Garona was born on Draenor years before and come through the portal with the invading orcs (from a different set of humans or near-humans ). Although it is possible that she might have human heritage assuming one of her parents were already a partial human hybrid from the mysterious Draeneor "humans". I.E. "half-orc half-human", or "half-human half-draenei", making her half-human/half-draenei/half-orc, or she grew up with a group of Draenor "humans" which lead her to believe she was part human. Half-human (near-human) In the novel The Last Guardian, Garona states that when orcs look at her, they saw only her "human" parts, and Medivh surmised that her homeland had "humans or near-humans" , while Khadgar wondered how much of her physical appearance was from her human heritage and how much from being female . Garona said that humans looked only at her orc parts, and that the orcs only look at her human parts. It was later revealed that Gul'dan was aware of her true parentage, but lied to Garona and made her believe she was half-human so she could more easily infiltrate the court of King Wrynn.Secrets Half-draenei It has been confirmed that Garona is an orc-dranei half-breed in the World of Warcraft comics. Garona mentions that she was forced through the portal along with laborers into Azeroth from Draenor, meaning that she was born on Draenor. Horde Player's Guide makes reference to Garona being a half-orc (the book's definition of a "half-orc" is that mostly all are offspring of an orc and a human, though half-ogre and half-draenei are not unheard ). The book clarifies that a hybrid of orc and draenei is usually called a half-draenei. Brann implies that they have physical features from both orcs and draenei (he or others have apparently met half-orc half-draenei ). Later, Brann points out that early on people had thought her to be half-human, however, her age would make it seem impossible for a human from Azeroth and orc to have produced her since she was already a young woman at the time. It is mentioned that Garona's parentage is a mystery to him, and that her features do not match those of the draenei he had seen (he has seen mostly Lost OnesLands of Conflict). However, Garona and her son are now shown to have some draenei-like features such shiny eyes and in the case of her son, chin spines. Before her full race identity was revealed in the comic, this issue was brought up on the official forums where the former community manager Caydiem claimed that Garona was in fact half-orc and half-draenei. Caydiem made this plausible by stating that the draenei seen so far in the game had been mutated as Draenor was torn apart by portals and through their portal travels.Blizzard lore posts#Garona's race Appearance With the recent revelation of the appearances of the true draenei and their eredar-like forms — it was hard to believe that Garona was half-draenei since she lacked their cranial features, leg structure, presence of a tail, and hooves — her prowess as an assassin makes it unlikely she is "half-uncorrupted" draenei. However, in World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, there is a half-orc half-draenei blademaster in Nagrand — Lantresor of the Blade, leader of the Boulderfist ogres — who reuses Rend Blackhand's orc model lacking draenei features and human features. Although Lantresor's model may just be using an orc model due to the lack of a true half-draenei model in-game (in the same way that half-elves are represented by elven models in game), Garona looks like him, without draenei features. In the World of Warcraft (Wildstorm comic), she is portrayed, similar to her older renditions, with dominant orcish features. Her only draenei features are the eye glows (not white, however, but purple) and the structure of her forehead. Horns, hooves, and the tail are missing, athough it is possible that they have been physically removed or simply are rudimentary and hidden under her clothes and hair. Her leg structure has nothing in common with the draenei's though. Her clothes, tattoo, and haircut are similar to 2003's orc assassin concept art by Samwise Didier, implying this may have been an older picture of Garona and not an unknown assassin. Age Surprisingly, Garona's only memories of the red world of Draenor are after it had become a barren wasteland. She doesn't appear to remember the times before orcs were corrupted and knew only a few details of the Rise of the Horde; such as that the orcs' skin went from brown to green and that they went from practicing different magic (fel magic) than what they had known before (shamanism), the ceremony binding the orcs to the Legion, as well as details leading to them coming to Azeroth; however, the way she describes the past in Tides of Darkness and The Last Guardian, it doesn't appear that she had first hand experience with any of those events. She displays no knowledge of (or at least doesn't talk about) the orcs' noble shamanistic heritage, and only remembered Draenor as a barren wasteland, not a verdant grassland, making it likely that she was born after the devastation wrought by the orcs' corruption. A theory to explain this is the recent revelation in the novel Rise of the Horde that orc warlocks possessed aging magic. She may have been born shortly prior to or during the orcs' campaign against the draenei and then aged to adulthood such as the children of Blackhand were. Disappearence from games Warcraft III In early release information related to Warcraft III, including private demonstrations to the media, it was mentioned that Garona was intended to play a major role in the main campaign, likening her importance to that of Thrall himself. On April 27, 2000, IGN.com interviewed Rob Pardo about the up-and-coming game titled Warcraft III. In an interview conducted by IGN, Garona was mentioned as a playable hero unit, but by the game's release in 2002, she was strangely missing. World of Warcraft During the World of Warcraft Closed Beta, she was seen in Ravenholdt Manor, the guild of assassins, with the title of "Grand Master of the Assassin's Guild". The NPC was later removed and has not reappeared since. She is possibly being reserved for a special storyline in a future content patch following the release of an expansion pack. :Note: Though she was removed from the game, her NPC ID is still located in the game as Creature 6767: Garona. Trivia *She considered Khadgar, Lothar, and Llane to be her only human friends. *It should be noted that Garona's last name "Halforcen" is similar to the name of her race, "half-orc". Her name may be a reference to Tanis Halfelven from the Dragonlance book series. *At BlizzCon's 2007 Q&A, it was stated that she might indeed return to the orcish race when Chris Metzen strongly implied that he would like to introduce Garona as a possible love interest for Thrall. However, this is just an idea that was randomly thrown out there it would seem. Memorable quotes *"The fact that I am of both Orc and Human lineage, combined with the skills and schooling I have acquired from my journeys, has elevated me to the position I now hold." *"Never better. Needed a little exercise. This whelp was kind enough to oblige." *"Yes, surprisingly, I can read..." *"Human languages are a bit...wordy." *"Let's just say I've been having a problem with divided loyalties." *"I'm going to kill him. He treated me well, and listened when I talked, and I'm going to kill him. No." *"In your histories, there are continual justifications for all manner of hellish actions. Claims of nobility and heritage and honor to cover up every bit of genocide, assassination, and massacre. At least the Horde is honest in their naked lust for power." *"Human or orc...An orc would say that it's a human hand—too slender to be really useful, not enough muscle to hold an ax or bash a skull in properly—too pale, too weak, and too ugly. You see the parts of me that are orcish. My orcish superiors, and all other orcs, see the parts of me that are human. I am both, and neither, and considered an inferior being by both sides." *"He made me feel human. And I haven't felt human in a long, long time." *"I feared, but survived. And I found my half-breed life gave me insight on these humans." Items *Malyfous Darkhammer, a member of the Thorium Brotherhood, notes that the is Garona's trademark chestpiece (as seen in the render above). He offers players a replica of the breastplate, given a certain amount of materials. * is a drop from The Curator in Karazhan, where Garona stayed during her time as emissary. *Yogg-Saron, whose role in certain events on Azeroth including Llane's assasination is unclear, drops and (most likely the dagger used to assassinate Llane Wrynn) *The Tier 9 Horde rogue set is named *She is the subject of the rogue quest item book: References External links Category:Major characters Category:Orcs Category:Draenei Category:Half-breeds Category:Lore characters Category:Shadow Council Category:Featured Articles Category:World of Warcraft (comic) characters Category:Warcraft: The Last Guardian characters